


Once More, Mr. Queen

by mybrotherharry



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crisis on Infinite Earths Crossover Event (CW DC TV Universe), F/M, Gen, Love, Multi, Oliver Lives, Pining, Romance, because bite me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:53:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21731137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mybrotherharry/pseuds/mybrotherharry
Summary: "You want me," Oliver asks the Monitor, incredulous, "to hop to parallel universes that don't have a Green Arrow and make sure that Ollie Queen gets on the Gambit?"The Monitor stares at him like he is a particularly dim-witted child."In 2007, yes," the Monitor answers.Oliver gives him his best 'I-am-about-to-poke-holes-in-you-with-arrows' glare. It is ineffectual against the cosmic being.~inspired by "there are no stories of the Green Arrow to tell if I don't make it to Lian Yu"
Relationships: Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak
Comments: 34
Kudos: 159





	Once More, Mr. Queen

**Author's Note:**

> A celebration of Oliver Queen, the hero. I belong to the tribe of people who believe that pre-island Ollie was A DICK, and the man he has become today is all the more impressive considering where we started.
> 
> This is decidedly an Olicity endgame fic, but because we deal with several alternate earths and realities, there is a little bit of Oliver/Laurel in some realities. But it is a clear Earth-1 Olicity fic.
> 
> Not compliant with Arrowverse Crisis Hour One, at all. I would call this canon divergent.

"You want me," Oliver asks the Monitor, incredulous, "to hop to parallel universes that don't have a Green Arrow and make sure that Ollie Queen gets on the Gambit?" 

The Monitor stares at him like he is a particularly dim-witted child.

"In 2007, yes," the Monitor answers.

Oliver gives him his _I-am-about-to-poke-holes-in-you-with-arrows_ glare. It is ineffectual against the cosmic being.

*

In the end, it comes down to this.

"You said the Arrow can't stop the oncoming Crisis."

"The Crisis is inevitable. The Arrow must fall. But perhaps, a few hundred different Oliver Queens, at the right place and right time.." he trails off.

"Sounds like a party," Oliver grits out, tired before they have even started.

"You are a singularly gifted man," the Monitor says to him. Of all the things that have thrown Oliver in this new life, the most unnerving has been the Monitor's ability to praise him with sincerity. 

"It is remarkable that you don't see your own worth. I have seen thousands of realities. A million universes, all existing side by side. Some better than others, some worse off and beyond help. The immutable commonality? The fixed point of all those universes where hope still exists? It is you, Oliver Queen. In all those universes, you put on a green hood and picked up a bow and arrow."

Oliver swallows around the lump in his throat and remembers Felicity talking about the butterfly effect, of the hundred million consequences that a single act can trigger.

"One man can't change the world," he says, aware of his own helplessness. He watched helpless, tied to a spike as Slade held a gun to his mother and sister. There are days when he feels powerless, and other people have paid the price for his mistakes.

"No," the Monitor stares at him, his gaze evaluating, "but the right man will try. That might make all the difference in the end, Mr. Queen."

*

_Earth 762_

They begin with Earth 762. 

"In 2007, Starling Port is the site of a fixed point in time," the Monitor explains, as Oliver stands ready to take the leap between universes.

"What does that mean?"

"A fixed point," he says. "In every reality, what happens here _must_ take place. In these universes, something is causing the alteration. It could be the nature of the participants, or other external events. But we need to put Ollie Queen on the Gambit."

Oliver sighs. 

"You don't know what you're asking me to do," he manages. 

Can he genuinely be expected to do this? He might believe that _he_ is a better person today for having been on the island, but that doesn't negate the absolute hell those five years were. Can he put another human being through purgatory? Literally?

"I do," the Monitor says. "I know what I am asking of you. The fact that I insist should tell you this is important."

What makes Oliver trust the Monitor, he can’t pinpoint. But he has learned not to ignore his instincts. He nods and makes the leap.

*

Earth 762's Starling City is as beautiful as Oliver remembers. Unfortunately, twenty two year old Ollie Queen is also as obnoxious as he remembers.

Oliver finds him blackout drunk in a stylish bar at the same location as Verdant on Earth 1. 

"I am shit drunk," Ollie garbles when Oliver carries him and throws him into the men's room. "I am seeing two of me," he laughs. 

Oliver drags him by the shirt collar, holds his head above the toilet and jabs two fingers at the base of his neck, a perfect pressure point to induce vomiting. With a painful pang, he misses Laurel. He remembers doing this for her during her own dark ages.

Ollie retches a few more times, curling up around the toilet bowl and hanging on for dear life. Oliver, for the life of him, can't understand how he ever managed to get this drunk. How he allowed himself to lose control like this.. but then again, before the island, Ollie Queen had nothing to fear.

Oliver produces the bottle of water he'd swiped off the bar and makes Ollie drink a few sips.

"Jesus, how much did I drink?" he groans. "I think Tommy slipped me something. Shit."

"He didn't," Oliver defends his friend, "He wouldn't do that, and you should know better."

"Man, I am seeing you. Myself. I am talking to myself."

"You're not hallucinating," Oliver clarifies. "Look properly. I am you, but not exactly. I am older. And in better shape."

Ollie laughs. "Now that's a lie."

"I am future you," Oliver explains.

"And I am Carmen Miranda," Ollie laughs, curling up on the floor with the water bottle. "Leave me alone, man."

"What did you do?" Oliver asks, trying to narrow down the approximate time period. He doesn't recognize this bar, so it’s probably a place specific to the timeline of this particular Oliver Queen. Ten year old Thea had been into Carmen Miranda songs, and Oliver remembers teasing her about it but beyond that, he can't nail down a specific memory. 

"If you're me, you should know already," Ollie tells him. Oliver is pretty sure the kid is still out of it, dazed and heavy in his arms. 

"Get up," he orders. "For God's sake, we don't have enough time."

"Laurel, man," Ollie says, and the vulnerability in his voice makes Oliver pause, makes him let the kid be for a minute longer on the floor. 

His heart thudding against his ribs, he asks, "What about her?"

"Ruined the best thing that ever happened to me, didn't I?" Ollie is now sobbing, pressing his knees to his chest. "I am a piece of shit."

His heart breaking all over again, Oliver pulls him up by his armpits. "Come on, sit up. We need to get to the Starling Port. You can sleep it off on the Gambit."

"Slept with Sara," the kid is crying now, "Man, she's Laurel's kid sister. They had a fight or something, and she came to talk to me, and I just -"

Oliver remembers. He remembers putting an arm around Sara, remembers taking her to his bedroom and letting her cry it out on top of him. When she started to kiss him, he had kissed right back. 

"It's going to be okay," he lies, even though it's not. 

"Told Laurel today," Ollie is saying when Oliver drags him to his feet. 

_Ahhh. That's_ why the kid is drinking. Laurel probably dumped his ass. Good for her. In his reality, Laurel didn't find out until the Gambit sank.

"She dump your ass?" 

"Worse man," the kid says. "She cried. She cried all over Tommy."

When they first started dating, Oliver had been terrified of making Laurel cry. No matter how much of a dick he had been, he’d always cared about her. Now he can only hope that the Tommy and Laurel of this universe find each other sooner, that they have more time together.

"Where's Sara?" he asks. The Monitor only wanted him to ensure that Ollie Queen got on the Gambit. If Sara's come to her senses, she may survive the summer at Starling U.

"Quentin got a hold of her," Ollie says. "Grounded."

_Good._

"Come on, you lump. We have got places to be."

*

Slipping in through the cargo hold undetected is fairly easy. He takes Ollie straight to the little cabin on Deck A that he remembers staying in. He puts the kid on the bed, and fishes out another bottle of water, and puts it on the table beside him.

Conked out, the kid goes right back to sleep. He vomited up nearly everything he drank, so Oliver's sure there's no risk of him choking on anything. The kid will probably wake up in time for the sinking. 

The temptation to try and catch a peek at his dad is overwhelming. But he can't trust himself to get off this boat, if he got even a glimpse.

He shuts the door quiety to not wake Ollie, and calls for the Monitor. He is ready to universe hop again. When the Gambit sets sail, he doesn't even look back.

*

_Earth 786_

On Earth 786, on the morning that the _Gambit's_ slated to leave, twenty two year old Oliver Queen is pushing a stroller through a peaceful neighborhood in Central City. 

Thirteen month old William Clayton Queen is enjoying his morning walk, as his mother Samantha makes faces at him to make him giggle.

Thirty four year old Oliver watches the scene, hidden behind an alley as the young family passes by.

"- mom says he almost walked," Samantha is saying to Oliver, who looks so smitten with the little baby. "I gave her the camera so she can record it if it happens when I am in class -"

Oliver follows them home, debating with himself the entire way there. It's one thing throwing irresponsible, self-centered, piece of trash Ollie Queen to the whims of fate. It's another thing sentencing this young dad to five years of hell.

He hides behind a tall shrub in their backyard, and listens to conversations through the open window. He stares at this little piece of forever that could have been _his_ life.

He listens as little William throws a tantrum about eating the mashed carrots Ollie's trying to coax him to eat. Oliver brushes away the wetness in his eyes, remembering how teenage William hates carrots too. 

“Ollie,” he hears Samantha call, “I am off.” 

“You left your binder on the couch!” he hears Ollie call back.

She is clearly a student, he realizes. She stuffs the binder and a couple of books into a heavy looking backpack, and thanks Ollie as he hands her a brown bag. He doesn’t kiss her though, and they part with an amicable wave. 

So they’re co-parenting, not dating.

“You have a good day, Sam,” Ollie tells her, as she gets into her car. “Will and I’ll have a quiet day, won’t we, champ? Say bye to mom.” He holds the little chubby hand and makes a small wave as William giggles, orange mush all over his face.

He takes William back inside once Samantha leaves. 

Oliver waits for the car to turn the corner, before breaking through the backdoor.

"What the hell!" Ollie jumps when Oliver walks in through the kitchen door. Little William is in a small, enclosed playpen seemingly content with half a dozen stuffed animals. The spotted giraffe that Oliver remembers from his own Will's room looks new. Oliver’s put that ratty thing in the washer a dozen times. For something that William swears he doesn’t “need” to sleep, it gets snotty and smelling like a teenager pretty fast.

"Who are you?" Ollie asks, automatically getting in front of William, putting himself between the child and the intruder.

Oliver's planned for this contingency.

"When Thea was seven," he begins, "you found her next to Dad's liquor cabinet. She'd broken the door by mistake, and got glass stuck in her arm. You made Tommy drive you both to the ER, and you never told another soul about it."

Ollie's face goes paler, and he bends down and picks up William, holding him close to his chest.

"Who the hell are -"

"When you were fifteen," he continues, "You found out Tommy's been cutting his hands. You made him promise to never do it again, and that he can think of your mom as his mom if he feels sad."

"Jesus -"

"These are things you have never told anyone else," Oliver says. "I want you to remember this when I tell you who I am. I am Oliver Jonas Queen. I am thirty four years old. I am from the future."

Ollie's eyes go wide, and he subtly turns towards the front door.

"Don't run," Oliver pleads. "Please don't run. Listen to me. I am here to tell you something important. I swear to you, I am you from the future. Well, one of your futures."

"What's that mean?" Ollie asks. He still has a wild look about him, like he is reconsidering everything and planning on running. Oliver's pleased to notice that he's angling his body away so that he can shield William. 

"That I am from a parallel universe to this one," he explains.

"Okay," Ollie says, looking around Oliver to see if there's someone behind him. "You can stop now, Merlyn. You got me. Ha ha, please come out, you're starting to freak me out. How'd he do this? Holograms? Are you an actor?"

"One time you went up to QC to ask your dad if he can take you up in the jet when you found him with Mrs. Evaneser," Oliver continues. "Tommy doesn't know about that. I am you, Oliver. I am you from the future. How else would I know these things?"

Slowly, like every step takes enormous effort, Ollie walks forward and sits down on the couch. William immediately tries to climb down off the cushions.

"Shh," he picks him up again and holds him closer to his chest. "Stay buddy," he whispers. “Shhh, my beautiful boy. You're okay." He bounces the little baby on his lap.

“You… are me.” Ollie says slowly. “And you are from the future.”

“Yes.”

“This is not a prank?” he asks again, quietly.

“I am afraid not,” Oliver says. “Who else, other than you would know these things?”

“I never told anyone about dad.. Shhh, William, baby, hush now,” he bounces the kid on his lap again. "What do you want? Why are you here?" Ollie asks, turning to Oliver.

"I am so sorry," Oliver says. "I am really sorry. I can't say how sorry I am, but you need to come with me. We need to get on a flight to Starling right now. You need to go with Dad on the Gambit."

"Dad's going on a trip?"

"You don't know?" Oliver asks, surprised. 

"Haven't been home in months," Ollie says. "Not since my son was born - um, our son, I guess - he - I mean, in your - universe?"

"William is thirteen right now," Oliver comes by to sit down next to him. "Eating me out of house and home." It's not the complete truth, but it will have to do. "May I?" he asks.

“No,” Ollie pulls William away, turning away and putting a protective hand behind his head.

Oliver sighs. “I am you,” Oliver promises. “I couldn’t hurt William any more than I could hurt a piece of my own heart. Besides, he likes it when you rub his back, like this.” 

He reaches around and gently runs a hand down the kid’s spine the way he’s done for his own William. It’s usually calmed him down after a nightmare. It works its magic on baby William too.

He stops fussing, and reaches out with one chubby hand to brush against his beard. He laughs at the sensation, the sound filling the silent apartment. 

Ollie stares at the sight, his eyes getting watery.

“Oh Jesus,” he says. “You are me. He seems to know you.”

“Babies know their fathers,” Oliver swears. “Even if it isn’t the correct version. There you go,” he hands William back. “He’s a little champ.”

"Why are you here?" Ollie asks, taking William back. "Is everyone okay? In the future, I mean. Thea? Mom and Dad? Mom's mad at me."

"Is that why you came here?"

"We had a fight about Samantha," Ollie says, taking William back into his arms. "She didn't tell me she was gonna try and pay her off. Sam came to me, and mom didn't like that. We had a fight."

"You chose to raise your son," Oliver says, gutted. This twenty one year old kid is far more mature than he himself had been. This kid has his shit together.

"Didn't you?" Ollie asks, looking suspicious.

"The details aren't - not everything is the same between universes," he says, looking around. "Is this your apartment?"

"Yeah," he says. "Dad cut me off. Said it would teach me some responsibility. Can't say he was wrong. I got a job to help out while Sam finishes college."

"What do you do?"

"I manage a bar," Ollie says. "Technically, I work for Tommy. We moved down here once he got his inheritance from his dad."

Oliver swallows around the lump in his throat, unspeakably proud of his alter ego. This man has his life together. He's trying. He is trying to do the right thing, much more than Ollie Queen ever had the courage to do so.

"Is everything okay?" Ollie asks again, looking frightened.

"No," Oliver answers him. "I am so sorry. I hate to do this, I really do. But you need to be on the _Gambit_ tonight."

"But why?"

"Something's gone wrong with this timeline," he explains. "I can't explain everything, but it is important that you get on the _Gambit_."

"How do you know this? What happened to you, man?" This Ollie Queen is also far more perceptive than he himself had been.

"Something's coming," he says. "A crisis. Something that will undoubtedly put our son's life in danger." He tries, appealing to what will matter most to this new father.

"What's that got to do with me going to China?"

"In the universes where we have a fighting chance against the danger," Oliver says, "you went on this trip."

Ollie looks at the bundle of joy in his arms. "Man, you must know what you're saying makes no sense."

"Trust me, please," Oliver begs. "I am you. I am telling you the truth. I know you don't wanna leave your son," Oliver's heart breaks, "but you need to do this."

"How long's this trip?"

 _Five years_ , Oliver doesn't say. "A week. Dad's going to China for a week. All you need to do is get on the boat with him."

"A week?" he looks aghast. "I can't be away for that long! Sam's got classes. We have a sitter, but we're not leaving him with a sitter for that long."

"I know this is difficult -"

"You think?"

"Listen to me, Oliver," he tries again, "This is more important than anything else you'll ever do. This is for protecting William. For protecting Thea. We need to keep this reality from crumbling. Do you understand me?"

"Honestly?" he says, "I am still kinda hoping I will wake up any second now."

"Sorry, I am very real. And this is real. You need to do this, Ollie."

*

Oliver lies on the living room floor, playing with William on his stomach as Ollie calls Tommy and makes arrangements. He never got to hold his son at this age, so he drinks him in as much as he can.

After three highly entertaining games of _catch-your-nose_ , he lets William bounce on top of him trying to touch his beard.

“Sam?” he hears Ollie say into the phone. “I know, I know you’re in class. Sorry, listen, something’s come up -”

At twenty one, he himself had no responsibilities to speak of. It had been easy for him to get on the Gambit with no forewarning. He had a hot and willing girl next to him, and a girlfriend to get away from. He had simply taken the out for a fun vacation away.

But this Ollie Queen has duties and people counting on him. He has a job, a son and a life. This Ollie works hard to win the trust of the mother of his son. He listens to this Ollie make arrangements of sitters with a maturity that came too late in his own life. 

"Even if I get to Starling on time," Ollie says once he's hung up the phone with Samantha, "there's no guarantee that Dad will let me come with him."

"He will," Oliver lies. If he doesn't, Oliver can knock the kid out and just sneak him on board. "Tell Tommy to book the tickets."

*

In the end, Robert Queen lets his son come with him on the trip. He is surprised to see him, but seems glad that the kid finally is making an attempt at reconnecting. Oliver watches, hidden behind a few crates as father and son talk. 

He gives Ollie a nod as the kid makes it on board, and turns away, disgusted with himself for the fate he subjected this innocent Queen to.

*

"I can't do this," Oliver tells the Monitor. "That was wrong. I just sent that man to a horrible fate. I took a father away from his child."

"Fascinating," the Monitor observes, "You are kinder to him than to yourself."

"He is not me," Oliver snaps. "He is far more of a man than I ever was. He doesn't deserve this."

"Neither did you, Mr. Queen," the Monitor says. "You might have been self centered at twenty one, or even cruel. But you didn't deserve Lian Yu either."

"My heart is breaking," Oliver doesn't even bother stopping the tears. "I know what not knowing his father did to my son. William grew up without me for twelve years. I have done the same thing to another William."

"Your alter ego will return in five years to find his son," the Monitor says. "He might even make the journey sooner, because his will to survive is stronger. We have no time to waste. Earth 45 is calling."

*

_Earth 45_

Earth 45's Ollie Queen is attending MIT. 

After dropping out of four colleges, his father bought his way into MIT, where lo and behold, Oliver finds him working as a barista in the campus coffee shop.

He finds the kid wiping down the counters with perhaps more force than necessary, muttering to himself under his breath. Putting his own baseball cap over his face, Oliver sneaks closer to try and hear what he's saying.

"- go to dinner with me, Felicity. No, not that. Please go to dinner with me. Will you go out with me. Felicity, I think you are awesome - ugh, she's going to throw her coffee in your face again, you idiot -"

Oliver, shocked, steps back without looking. This Ollie Queen is muttering about a _Felicity_ at MIT, and…. Oliver knocks someone down.

"Ow," a very familiar voice cries, "ow! Ow! Ow!"

"I am so sorry," he pulls the cap down on his face and leans over to help her up. "I didn't - didn't see where I was going - I am so sorry. Are you okay?"

She is _beautiful_. 

Her dark hair frames her face, falling in waves down her shoulder. Her glasses are crooked on her nose, a nosering glinting in the light of the cafe. He picks up the sheets of paper that came loose from her binder, and hands them to her.

"I am sorry again," he says.

"We've all been there," she says, and her voice is so familiar he wants to curl up against her and never let go. "Not enough coffee, am I right?"

He nods, blinking the wetness away. She is too thin, her hips not yet as filled out as he remembers. This Felicity isn't still carrying pregnancy weight like his wife, back on Earth 1.

"Hey," she says, putting a hand on his arm, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he mutters. "Thank you, and sorry." He turns tail and runs past her, sneaking into a darkened alcove. Shrugging she crosses over to the bar. Her expression falls when she catches sight of Ollie Queen.

"Hi," Ollie says, his fingers fidgeting nervously with the wipe cloth.

"You!" she barks. "Is this a prank?"

"No!" he exclaims, raising his hands in surrender. "No, I swear. I got a job here!"

"You got a job?" she says coldly, and it stings to hear her talk to him this way. To talk _any_ version of him this way. "Whatever for? Trust fund finally run out?"

"No!" Ollie jumps to explain. "No! See, you said I can't ever do an honest day's work - well, it doesn't matter what you said. But Felicity, please, I am so sorry for -"

"I don't care, Queen," she snaps. "I just want my coffee. And if I find out you did anything funny to it at all, I _will_ go to the Dean this time."

"I won't mess up your coffee," he says, sounding a little hurt.

"So even you know where to draw the line? Or is this just cause I tanked your credit score?"

“That was you?”

“Forget I said anything,” she huffs out, blowing a wisp of hair that’d fallen on her face. “I will deny everything.” 

"Felicity," Ollie continues, trying desperately to get her to see him for what he is. "Will you go out with me?"

She stares at him like he's grown a second head.

"Very funny," she says quietly.

"I am being serious."

"Melanie is in my dorm room right now," Felicity tells him. "Still crying over you."

"I said I was sorry," he defends. "I didn't mean to hurt her."

"Sounds like you have been saying sorry to every woman you've met on campus," she points out.

"No! Well, maybe. I dunno. But you're the only woman I lo- like. Please?"

"I don't wanna be a woman you like, Queen," she says, and Oliver feels sorry for the guy. 

He really does. He knows there's no way Felicity Smoak would have looked twice at trust fund baby Oliver Queen, especially the pre-island version. Still, he feels sorry for this kid. He is trying. But he wonders what the kid could have done to _Melanie_ to make Felicity hate him like this. Probably something awful.

Felicity seems sure of it, so she just snaps, “You know what? I don't have to put up with this for a cuppa coffee. I can get a better cup at the student center.”

With that, she turns around and stomps out of the cafe, leaving Queen standing there with the most hopeless hangdog expression on his face.

Oliver uses his distraction to quickly jam the cafe door. He walks up to the kid, takes off his baseball cap, and says, "Will you believe me if I tell you I am you from the future? Here, I have a picture of my wife and kid." He retrieves the picture from his pocket and thoroughly enjoys the way Ollie's eyes widen.

"I am Oliver Queen, age thirty four. Please don't faint on me."

*

He stands on the Starling Port again that night, having put MIT dropout and heartsick Ollie Queen on the Gambit.

This time, when he turns to the Monitor, he can't help the impulse to punch the man. The Monitor dodges, his expression of serene peace unchanging.

"He is in love with her," Oliver tells him. "He found her five years _before_ I did. He doesn't know how lucky he had it, and I went and ruined it for him."

"You have no way of knowing if she would have fallen in love with him too," the Monitor says. 

Which. Touche. 

“Please stop trying to make me feel better,” he grunts out.

“I am not saying that’s in question," the Monitor says. "Your wife loves you. What you just did - it didn't remove her from his life. It is making him worthy of it."

"He was there already," Oliver growls. "He was trying. He was trying to be better."

"Perhaps," the Monitor concedes. "But Mr. Queen, if we are speaking of fixed points in time? There are other fixed points in your life. You walking down to the IT department to look for some help with a laptop. Rest assured, Mr. Queen, he will find her again."

*

_Earth 8474, 654, 332_

He gets a reprieve on Earths 8474, 654 and 332. 

The Ollie(s) of these worlds all resemble Oliver himself at twenty two. Selfish, cruel bastards. He finds one in the middle of an argument with Laurel, saying unspeakably cruel things to her. Another Ollie is handing Thea a small roll of pot, teaching her how to smoke it.

The third Ollie Queen is in prison, arrested for vandalism and racketeering. Robert Queen's refused to post bail. Let the kid learn a lesson, he has said. 

These three assignments feel a relief to Oliver from the mind-numbing guilt of having thrown better men to a cruel fate.

Breaking Earth 332-Ollie out of prison and throwing him on the Gambit feels almost cathartic.

"You could be kinder to these men," the Monitor tells him as they stand on the Starling Harbor again. "They are you, after all."

"That piece of shit was giving Thea drugs," Oliver says. "I hope Slade kicks his ass harder than he kicked mine."

"Lian Yu is a crucible, Mr.Queen," the Monitor states. "It will be the unmaking of these Oliver Queens, the way it was for you."

*

_Earth 5560_

Earth 5560 is just plain weird.

It's weird from the get go. 

Starling City is the same, but the Queens are a poor family in the Glades. His father is a mechanic, and works in an auto garage. His mother is a high school teacher and Thea has dreadlocks. Ollie Queen works three jobs, and attends night classes at Starling U.

Except he doesn't seem to be going to college.

Past midnight on his first day on Earth 5560, Oliver follows the kid to a very familiar, abandoned foundry. He watches him put on a green hoodie (a regular, warm sweatshirt, similar in look to his own green leather one), wear a hockey mask and step out into the cold night. He stops three muggings, walks a lovely young woman home, and gives the homeless guy on the corner of 19th and Nufalk a sandwich.

"Ham and cheese this time," Ollie tells the guy sleeping on the sidewalk.

Oliver steps closer around the alley to see who it is, and gets the shock of his life when he stares at the profile of John Diggle.

"Told you to make yourself spare, kid," Digg says, accepting the sandwich.

"Did you think about what I said?" Ollie asks, sitting down against the wall opposite the alley. "About Vet's house?"

"They have their hands full dealing with people worse off than me," Digg says. "I am fine."

"It's getting colder now," Ollie tells him. "You can't keep sleeping on the street."

Digg laughs, "Kid, go home."

"Roy says he can get a spot in the shelter by next week," Ollie says, like he didn't hear John.

"I said I'll think about it," Digg shuts him up, taking a bite of his sandwich. "What are you doing here so early anyway? Ran out of people to save? Or did you decide the city can survive one night without a kid in a hoodie?"

"One of Amber's girls live on this block," Ollie says. "Had to walk her home."

"You're unreal, man," Digg tells him, his voice full of fondness. Oliver misses him so much. “How're your classes going? Still failing everything?"

"Yeah," Ollie nods. 

"Actually going to a class might help with that."

"Dad says he's got a friend at Merlyn's company. I could get a night's guard job from next week. A steady paycheck'll be nice," Ollie replies. 

"Man, when will you sleep?"

"Don't need much sleep," Ollie lies, and even in the dim light, Oliver can see the yawn the kid's suppressing. This Ollie Queen is older than all the other ones he's met so far, and what's more, he sounds exhausted. 

"Kid, you're so full of shit," Digg laughs. It’s something Oliver’s heard a hundred times from his own Diggle that it sends a pang through his chest. 

The last time he had seen John was months ago… He wonders what could have happened to this John Diggle for fates to turn to cold, but when the blankets shift, he sees the prosthetic leg that Digg’s got folded up beside him.

“I nearly lost a limb in Kandahar,” he remembers his John say from nearly a century ago.

He is so lost in thought that he almost misses when the kid. When Ollie walks through a couple of bad neighborhoods, he follows at a steady pace, trying to figure out how to get this Ollie Queen on a millionaire's yacht going in the approximate direction of Lian Yu. Is there even a Queen's _Gambit_ on this Earth? 

He is so distracted that he doesn't take in where they're at. Ollie Queen is at the Starling Port, heading towards a group of men unloading boxes. 

A beautiful yacht is anchored just beyond, and Oliver can make out the words _Destiny_ on the side.

Oliver falls back behind another crate, listening to Ollie's conversation with one of the men.

"- if you need more men with the unloading," Ollie is saying. "I can work the crane, but don't got a license, though."

"Hao usually doesn't care about that," the other man is telling the kid. "He's real good about helping out with some cash on the down low. How's your sister doing now, kid?"

"Asthma," Ollie answers. "Doc said she needs to keep her inhaler on her."

Thea had asthma as a child. They got her an inhaler, and the doctor put her on medication for a while. It had never been a big deal in _his_ family. Clearly, for this Oliver Queen, the added expense is conspicuous. Oliver's never been more aware of his own privileged upbringing than right now.

"Yo Queen," an Asian man comes running down the walkway. "Can you help out with loading up this beauty?" he points to the Destiny. "Eight dollars an hour, plus coffee."

"Deal," Ollie says, sounding grateful.

As Oliver watches the kid work, he tries to imagine a life where he grew up without wealth. As an obnoxious teenager, he had kind of taken money for granted. Not until Lian Yu had he ever had to live without the basic necessities. But this Ollie would probably survive severe deprivation. This Ollie would understand suffering.

Oliver watches the kid work. The workers seem to know him well, and they keep a light hearted banter while lugging heavy boxes and crates. After making sure that they're distracted enough, he sneaks on board the _Destiny_ and finds a shipping manifesto. The boat is Merlyn's, and it's on its way to China. It leaves tomorrow, the same day as the _Gambit_ would have.

The Monitor wouldn't have put him on this Earth if there wasn't a way to get Queen to Lian Yu. Making a plan, he gets off the boat and follows Queen home.

*

Breaking into a pharmacist’s building to steal a couple of bottles of chloroform isn’t difficult.

Neither is ambushing an Ordinary Seaman from the crew of the _Destiny_ , drugging him and locking him up in the foundry until the _Destiny_ is due to depart.

A couple of hours before the scheduled time, Hao calls Ollie Queen and asks him how he would like to make some extra cash, as they're missing a seaman. Ollie jumps at the chance. He needs the cash.

Ollie watches him make the trek out to Digg to give him the news.

"I got a job on a boat," he says. "I'll be back in a week. Try not to freeze to death until I get back?" his tone is light, but he hands Diggle a thick blanket.

"Thanks kid," Digg says. "You take care of yourself, yeah? Keep an eye out for mermaids."

"Oh damn," the kid slaps a hand to his forehead. "That reminds me. Thea wanted a mermaid backpack. Her birthday is this week."

"What'cha gonna do kid?"

"I'll see if I can run by a store before I gotta leave."

Ollie does go to the store, but he is three dollars short on the price. Looking disappointed, he walks out, counting the bills in his hand again.

"It's okay, Ollie," Thea hugs him really hard. "I'll miss you!"

"It's just for a week, speedy," he kisses her forehead. "You take care of yourself, okay? Got your inhaler?"

"Right here," she pulls it out of her pocket.

"I am sorry about your birthday present," he tells her again, looking sad.

"That's alright," she smiles. "Bring me a rock from China."

"A rock?"

"Yeah, a pretty one."

"I'll do my best," he hugs her.

Wiping his eyes, Oliver watches the kid get on the _Destiny_. The Monitor asks him if he's ready to go to the next Earth.

"Give me half an hour, please," he requests. 

He goes right back to the store, steals the backpack and puts it under Thea's bed, sure that she would find it eventually.

However, Oliver is pretty sure that when her brother comes back in five years, she will really like the rock he brings back for her.

*

_Earth 221_

Oliver is exhausted by the time he gets to Earth 221.

"Sara, no," he reveals himself from behind Ollie Queen's closet, bodily pulls the kid off of the blonde girl and throws him across the room.

She screams. The house is thankfully empty. The little shit made sure of it before bringing Sara Lance up to his bedroom.

"Hey, who the hell -" Ollie looks at him. "What? Who are you?"

"Ollie?" Sara asks, scared. She is so young. Oliver can't help but see her as just a young, teenage girl. Her hair is blonde, the exact same shade of Mia's little curls. God, she could be how Mia looks when she grows up..

"Sara," Oliver sits down beside her on the bed and takes her hand in his, "if you do this, you will not only hurt your sister irreparably, but you will also regret it for the rest of your life."

"Hey!" Ollie shouts, getting up off the floor, cradling his left arm close to his chest. He probably landed on it when Oliver threw him. 

"Sara," Oliver continues. "He's not worth it."

"I love him," she says, wide-eyed and scared, but unflappable in the face of speaking to another Oliver Queen.

"I know you do," he assures her. "He knows it too. He is using you," he turns to glare at the kid standing by the window. "And that's wrong. Please don't do this to Laurel."

"Who are you?" she asks. "Ollie, why does he look like you?"

"I am just a good samaritan. Go home, okay? Sleep it off."

He locks the kid in the bedroom while he walks her outside and puts her in a cab. When he gets back inside, he finds Ollie Queen pacing in his bedroom. The kid looks scared when he walks in. 

Oliver is so tired. Less than a day ago, he saw another Ollie Queen work three jobs to get his little sister a backpack. This little shit is so far from that man, that Oliver can't - 

"You are a despicable little piece of trash, you know that?" he growls, uncaring if he is using his Arrow voice. The kid's eyes widen. He looks frightened.

"Who are you? What is happening?"

"I am your worst fucking nightmare," he grabs the kid by the collar. "Come on," he says. "We're going to the Harbor. You've got a boat to catch."

*

His parents weren't particularly religious people. Felicity goes to temple occasionally, and she is mindful of things like Hanukkah and Yom Kippur, but that's pretty much all the religion they practiced. Samantha was Protestant, and she had raised William to have faith. Oliver's never really believed in a creator because he's seen too much of the very worst in this world. 

But that day, as he watches the Gambit sail away, he falls to his knees on the Harbor's walkway, praying for Mia. Seeing Sara, a Sara who was _that_ young and _that_ scared made him terrified for her, for having brought a daughter into this despicable world with men like Ollie Queen..

He feels a whole new level of appreciation for Quentin Lance.

"You're a good man, Oliver Queen," the Monitor says beside him. "Even now you don't pray for absolution."

"Some sins are unforgivable," he says. "I want to see my daughter. I want to see my wife."

"Soon, Mr. Queen," the Monitor smiles. "Soon."

*

They get into a holding pattern after that. 

For every Earth that Oliver visits, where he finds an Ollie Queen who's decent and good and fair, the Monitor sends him to two more Earths where Ollie makes him so ashamed of himself that he stomps off the Starling Harbor in a furious rage.

"You can't seriously tell me the universe will be better with the likes of him in it," he growls at the Monitor, after putting the latest Ollie on the Gambit.

"Self loathing to this extent?" The Monitor smiles. "Surely Prometheus didn't reach that deep into your psyche."

For a second, Oliver is back in _that_ room, chains at his wrists and an arrow in his shoulder. "He didn't tell me anything that wasn't true."

"Perhaps it IS time for a visit home," Monitor says. "When your spirit seems ready to break, your Felicity can mend your soul."

Oliver wants it to so much. He can taste it.. 

"Please. I will do anything. Please."

"I was saving Earth 714 for you," Monitor says. "Go now. Now is the moment."

*

_Earth 714_

Ollie Queen is CEO of Queen Consolidated.

At twenty two, he is the youngest CEO in the country, and also the most successful. He is smart, dedicated, hard working and absolutely ruthless in the boardroom. He's nudged his mother and her shady dealings out of the company, and is leading QC toward cutting edge technology. When he's not locked in his office working eighty hour weeks, he is attending his sister's dance recitals or purchasing romantic getaway trips for his parents' anniversary.

This Ollie Queen has it all. Too bad it's all going to be taken away from him.

Oliver feels sorry for the bastard.

He’s gotten himself well settled into a janitor’s closet in the QC buildng. He’s jammed the lock, and setup a little monitoring station to read into all the CCTV footage. He’s also slipped in during the night to bug the CEO’s office, and one particular desk in the IT department… 

Lost in thought, he barely pays attention during the board meeting, listening to Ollie Queen ramble on about a new product he wants to sell to the military, his voice deep and informed, the very image of a confident CEO.

When the meeting ends, Queen’s assistant announces, “Ms. Smoak here to see you.”

Oliver's monitoring via a security cam he hijacked off the mainframe. So he's glad that the only person to witness Ollie Queen's nervous hand-wringing and pacing is his own alter ego.

Gone is the confident, no-nonsense CEO. Ollie is nearly vibrating with nervous energy, fiddling with his tie, wiping his hands on his trousers: all the hallmarks of a teenager picking up a prom date.

Oliver stops breathing when she steps inside.

She's gorgeous.

She walks into Ollie's office wearing Oliver's favorite red dress, the one with the zipper that goes all the way around. Her hair is up in a bun, her shoes are those nude pumps he's taken off her a million times.

She looks like how he remembers her.

"Mr. Queen," she says. "I have a new product idea for you."

"Y-yes yes," Ollie stammers, wiping his palms on his trousers again, his face flushed red. "Please take a seat, Miss Smoak."

She starts rambling, and Oliver lets it wash over him, not even bothering to wipe away the wetness in his eyes. He's hidden in a janitor's closet with a stolen laptop, and he really could be found any moment, but he can't care right now. Felicity is speaking to Ollie about cloud computing and data analyics, and he is certain that Queen hasn't heard a word of it either.

"- so what do you say?" she finishes. "Mr. Queen? Hello, earth to Mr. Queen?"

"Right," he croaks out, "I mean, yeah! Yes, whatever you feel is the best. I'll approve the budget."

"Will you at least read the proposal document _this time_?"

"I don't need to," he says with sincerity, "I trust you, Felicity."

She blushes, looking away, and Oliver can’t blame her. He is embarrassed by how Ollie Queen sounds, like he would jump off a cliff if she just said the word. Oliver aches with how much he wants her.

She promises to email her boss the pertinent information and leaves, throwing one last smile behind her. After the click clack of her heels vanish, he hears Ollie Queen land facefirst on his table with a loud thump.

"Will you go out with me, Felicity?" he says to the empty office. "No Oliver, I would rather drown myself in an ocean." The kid starts bashing his head on the table top.

Oliver smiles at his self-flagellation, remembering his own nerves when he tried to ask Felicity out. 

He follows Ollie Queen on the CCTV footage for the rest of the day. The kid sticks to work after his little meeting with Felicity. He takes meetings in the various conference rooms, steps out for lunch with his mother where they have an innocent discussion about the new boy Thea is seeing (Oliver is glad to see that Ollie wholeheartedly disapproves of the little shit), and returns to the office with a latte.

Oliver is also aware of the ticking clock he’s been ignoring. The Gambit leaves tonight, and he needs to put the guy on it. While he tries to come up with a plan, he also tracks the cameras on the IT floor, watching _her_ eat yoghurt at her desk and laugh with a colleague over a joke. 

God, he wants to hug her... He would do anything to hug her.. 

He's just trying to zoom in on what she's scribbling on a post-it note when he hears a very familiar voice over the feed.

"Oh shit," he mutters to himself. What the hell is Ollie Queen doing in IT right now? He was supposed to be in the projections meeting.

"Oliver?" Felicity asks surprised, biting her red pen. "Aren't you supposed to be in the projections meeting right now?"

"Umm, yeah," he says. "I actually need your help."

"Okay?"

He pulls out a laptop from behind him and holds it out to her. "It just shut down on me," he says, and god, the kid is such a terrible liar. "It has the numbers I need for the projections meeting. I was wondering if you could take a look? Reboot it?"

"I can totally reboot your system," she says, and obviously, immediately regrets it. "I mean, not your system, like your system system, more like your laptop. Which crashed. So you can come down to the IT department. And listen to me babble. Which will stop. In three, two, one."

The kid smiles at her, and if he were beaming heart eyes at her any harder, they would be able to see it from the goddamn moon. Oliver wonders if he was this bad when they started dating. Digg used to say he could practically hear him pine..

"I understand that you're way overqualified for this," he tells her.

"I am," she nods. "But I don't mind." She opens the laptop and tries to get it to turn on. "Tell me the truth. What did you do to it?"

"Nothing."

"Oliver," she says, her voice brooking no nonsense.

"Okay," he says. "I spilled a latte on it."

"Oh god," she laughs.

"It was an accident!"

"I should hope so!" she laughs. "The circuits are probably drenched. I'll have to dry them out. It's probably not going to be ready by the time your meeting is done. You might wanna postpone."

"Sure, I'll do that."

"Alright," she says. "I'll send it up once it's ready, okay?"

"Yes, thank you," he says, putting his hands in his pockets in a vain attempt to hide how nervous he is. "Felicity?"

She turns around in her chair again to face him.

"Would you - would you like to go out to dinner with me?"

Her eyes widen, and her lips tug into a smile, and Oliver's heart just breaks watching the two of them dance around each other like this.

"I don't want to read too much into this," she gets to her feet, "but are you asking me out on a date? Like an actual date? A date date?"

"I mean," Oliver replies, clearly anxious to hear her response, "the implication with a dinner being -"

"Usually I am the one talking in sentence fragments," she says, taking his hand in hers. 

The contact seems to brace him and he manages to ask her again, "Would you like to go to dinner with me?"

"Yes," she answers, and leaning up on her tippy toes, places a quick kiss on his cheek. Ollie practically jogs all the way back to his office after promising to pick her up at eight.

*

Oliver summons the Monitor.

"Nope," he says. "I am not doing this. Not this guy. Not this Earth."

"I expected this might be your response," the Monitor says. "I didn't want to send you to Earth 714."

"He is happy," Oliver says. "This kid? He's worked hard to have what he has. He is not the mess I was at twenty two. He's a loving son, a loving brother, and a decent human being to his employees. I am not doing this."

"Mr. Queen," the Monitor sounds exasperated, "you need to give up the idea that sending Oliver Queen to Lian Yu is a form of punishment, deserved only by certain versions of you across the multiverse."

"Well, this guy doesn't deserve it!"

"It's not about deserving. The universe isn't fair."

"Please," Oliver pleads. "Let him have his date."

"Will it be easier to send him off tomorrow?" the Monitor asks. 

"It will be easier to not send him at all."

"Mr. Queen," the Monitor says threateningly.

"Why? How many Green Arrows do you need to save the Multiverse?" he argues. "I have already given you at least a dozen more than you had before. Why will this one make a difference?"

"The truth is, we don't know what it will do to NOT have a Green Arrow in this universe," he explains. "Think about it, Mr. Queen. Malcolm Merlyn's earthquake device setoff in this universe, but no Oliver Queen to stop it? No Overwatch to stay in his ear and tell him what to do? How about the League of Assassins, raining fire on Star City? How about Diaz, free to unleash havoc? You only see how the world would be better off without the Green Arrow. I see how much worse the world is if you didn't put on that hood."

Oliver's not beyond begging. He will do anything. This may not be _his_ Felicity. But till the day he dies, he will remember how warm she had looked in that red dress, sitting across a linen wrapped table. It would be a sin to deprive any Oliver Queen of that sight.

"Please," he begs. "Not this one."

"Can you imagine what this one will be like, under that hood?" Monitor insists. "A man, with perhaps a moral compass even superior to yours? A man who has much more to lose than you did, the first time you picked up a bow?"

"I DON'T CARE!" he shouts. "I WON'T DO IT!"

"You don't have a choice," the Monitor says. "We had a deal. You owe me this."

"I DON'T OWE YOU ANYTHING!"

"Very well," Monitor says. "You leave me no choice. I will show you the future of this reality. The reality written in stone if you don't get Oliver Queen on the gambit."

He waves a hand, and the scene around them changes. Cement and brick and dust hang heavy in the air, with visibility dim. He hears his own voice scream a familiar name.

"FELICITY!" It's Ollie Queen, but this one is older, and he is running, frantic with a flashlight. A firefighter who looks a lot like John Diggle is beside him, as they survey the wreckage. 

Oliver looks around and realizes where they are.

"No," he gasps. "No. Please, God, no."

"You were supposed to be meeting Tommy Merlyn. It was a celebratory dinner for his engagement with Miss Lance. When the tremors start, your fiance went looking for you. She was trapped in the CNRI building. She gets Miss Lance out but it’s too late for her."

He stares at Ollie Queen, kneeling in the rubble, holding a pale hand in his. The ring on her finger is familiar, and it gleams.

"Oliver," she croaks.

"Felicity, honey -" he is sobbing.

"I love you."

Oliver turns away, unable to watch any version of Felicity die. He won't. He won't let this happen.

"Stop! Stop it, please! Stop it!"

The scene vanishes. 

The Monitor puts a hand on his shoulder. "She was three months pregnant."

He falls to his knees, sobbing into his hands.

"Please," he begs.

"The world needs the Arrow, Mr.Queen," he insists. "Including your fiance. Besides, they will find each other again. Something tells me even the multiverse wouldn't try keeping Miss. Smoak away from her Oliver."

The sight of Felicity crushed under rubble is burned on the back of his eyelids. He can't - he can't let that happen. He will put Oliver through hell if it means Felicity WILL LIVE.

He gets to his feet. He has a date to crash.

~

In the candlelight, wearing the very same red dress, her wavy hair down her shoulders, she looks at her Ollie Queen like all her dreams have come true. 

Oliver hands a waiter a fifty dollar bill and sends him on his way.

Felicity's just said "line forms behind me" when he interrupts them. 

"Mr. Queen," the waiter greets them. "The owner of the restaurant is an old friend of your father's. He wonders if he might have a word."

"I am in the middle of dinner with my - date," Ollie says, giving the waiter a rude glare.

"I am afraid he insists," the waiter presses. 

Felicity makes moue. "It's okay, Oliver," she smiles at him. "I need the ladies' room anyway. Go ahead."

"I am sorry about this," Ollie says sheepishly.

"Better to get it over with than have to speak to him after dinner," she says. "I don't - " she flushes. "Not that I presume you'll be with me after dinner. Even though I am hoping you would. Or not. Not that I mind. Oh God, please just go while I try to remove my foot from my mouth with a salad fork."

Ollie smiles like he wants to kiss her. Oliver wishes he would. He's going to regret not kissing her for the next five years.

The waiter leads Ollie back through the kitchen and into the alley.

"Hey, what are - where are we - "

Oliver puts a hand over his mouth, and pulls him into the alley. The waiter makes himself scarce quickly, pocketing the second fifty Oliver's handed to him.

He lets go of Ollie, pressing him up against the wall.

"Shh, listen to me," he says. "Just listen to me. Felicity's in danger and I need you to come with me to save her."

*

The Gambit pulls away from Starling Harbor that night, carrying with it Oliver Queen. 

It had been the hardest sell so far, because this Ollie Queen? Not the kind of man who'd just up and leave his family in the lurch. It had taken hours to convince him, but the Fixed Point had held. The yacht had remained where it needed to be until Queen got on it.

His mission is complete, but Oliver can't leave yet. He finds her brownstone apartment, scales up to her third storey window and watches her take off her red dress. When she's about to get indecent, he turns away. She isn't _his_ Felicity. He has no right.

He can predict her every move. When she is _this_ upset, she goes for the mint chip first. Her date stood her up. Her boss stood her up. He ran out while she was in the bathroom, and if he knows her at all, he knows she'd have already cornered that waiter and heard the story. A man of Oliver's height, hair and physique paid him a hundred bucks to interrupt them.

She'll conclude that Oliver regretted asking her out, and left her there to get away.

He sees her sitting on her couch in her panda bear pajamas and stab her ice cream with the spoon. Oliver’s come home several times to this sight, of her in her ridiculous animal PJs, murdering a pint of mint chip with several stabby motions. When she’d been pregnant with Mia, she had put a dollop of mint chip on saltines and eaten them together like a tiny sandwich. When they fight, Oliver’s found that the best way to apologize is with mint chip. 

She usually forgives him before the ice cream’s melted too much.

But tonight, it doesn’t seem to be working its magic.

She stabs it half a dozen times before throwing it across the room, crying into her hands. Hunched over, she weeps, and he wants to go to her so badly. He wants to comfort her. 

But would it actually help? Will it help her to know that her own Ollie Queen is about to be shipwrecked? That he will be stuck on an island in the North China Sea, and that on cold nights, he will remember how warm she'd looked in her red dress and carry the memory as a talisman? 

If he told her the truth, she wouldn't stop until she pulled Ollie out of Lian Yu. And it's essential that he stays there long enough to come back as the vigilante who'd do anything to protect the innocent. He reminds himself that Felicity Smoak fell in love with the Arrow first, Oliver second. It can happen again.

He watches her fall asleep on the couch, and listens to her breathe. He stays hanging off her window until her breathing evens out, and then squeezes inside. Gently, he lifts her off the couch, puts her in bed, and tucks her in. He leaves the way he came, but before he turns off the lights, he presses one gentle kiss to her forehead.

"You'll be alright," he promises. She is Felicity Smoak. She's made of sterner stuff.

*

He doesn't talk to the Monitor. He doesn't want to. What has he got to say anymore? 

He goes to the Earth he's told to go to, and he gets the job done. The Monitor seems to understand that they're at an impasse. The Earths he's being sent to all have an Ollie Queen who gets on his very last nerve.

First, there's the asshole who fills Tommy Merlyn's pool with Scotch and pushes Laurel into it. Oliver stabs that guy extra hard with a sedative while sneaking him on board the Gambit.

Then, there's brunette Ollie from Earth 42 who calls Raisa "the subpar help" that Oliver nearly puts an Arrow in him.

There’s also the bisexual Ollie Queen from Earth 9433 who was cheating on both _Tommy and Laurel_ with Sara. Oliver had kneed _that_ particular asshole in the balls.

And then there's Earth 890. The less that's said about the piece of shit from Earth 890, the better.

"Please send me somewhere with an Oliver Queen that I won't want to murder in a painful way," he asks the Monitor, who nods.

He goes to Earth 549.

*

_Earth 549_

Laurel Lance of Earth 549 spends her days outside the Oncology ward at Starling General. She is too young to watch her father waste away, but she doesn't move from his side.

Oliver is beyond grateful to not be faced with a horrible version of himself on this Earth.

"It's going to be alright, Laurel," Ollie is comforting her outside her dad's room, "Hey, look at me, sweetheart."

"Ollie," she is sobbing into his shirt.

"Laurel, I think you should go home for a while, okay?" he says. "Tommy's going to take you home."

"I can't leave him alone," she insists, wiping her eyes. This is the most broken Oliver's ever seen her.

"You are not," Ollie tells her, his voice soft. "I'll stay with him. I promise he won't be alone. I'll be here till you come back in the morning. Tommy!" he calls, and his best friend comes closer to extricate Laurel out of Oliver's embrace into his own. She wraps herself around him just as tightly as she held on to Ollie.

"Make sure she eats something, please," Ollie requests. The two men exchange a look, before Tommy nods.

"Come on, you," he takes her with him as he walks out.

Oliver watches from behind a janitor's cart as Ollie pulls out his phone and makes a call.

"Mom," he hears the kid say, "The Lances' insurance didn't cover the tests from this morning. Yeah. Uh-huh." Ollie listens to whatever Moira is speaking on the other end. "Yeah, can we help? Quietly. Laurel won't accept it if - yeah. You know how she is. Please mom? Okay. Well, I don't think the hospital will release billing to me. Okay, no I think I have an idea. Mom, let me call you back."

He hangs up and then dials again.

"Sara?" he says. "I just put your sister in a car with Tommy. Uh-huh. Yeah, feed her something and sit on her if you need to. Yeah, okay. Listen, I need you to speak to the hospital about the billing." More pacing. "Sara, don't start with me." He runs a frustrated hand through his hair. "Sara. Please. I don't want to add this to Laurel's plate, and I am trying to help. Okay. Will you, please? Alright, fine, I will see you in the morning."

Figuring he won't get a better moment, Oliver steps out from behind the cart and faces his alter-ego.

"Hi," he says, pulling out his usual mission statement. "I am Oliver Jonas Queen and I am thirty four years old. When Thea was seven, you found her next to dad's liquor cabinet.."

*

The kid extracts a promise from him. This Oliver needs to stay with Quentin all night, or Ollie isn't getting on the Gambit.

Oliver shakes hands with him, accepting the deal.

"Take care of her," Ollie asks, eyes big and sad.

Oliver hates himself a little more when he lies, "It's only for a week."

"She'll hate me for leaving," Ollie says. "She'll worry about me, and she has enough to worry about as it is. Why is this so important?"

"It just is," Oliver insists for the hundredth time. "Don't you want to keep Laurel safe?" 

"Don't lecture me about Laurel!" the kid nearly shouts. "I see how you look at her."

 _Oh wow._ The kid's got the _wrong_ idea. So very much the wrong idea.

"Queen," he pinches the bridge of his nose with his fingers, just so very tired. "You got the wrong idea."

"You aren't in love with her?"

"NO!" he shouts right back. "NO! She just -" he says quietly now, "she reminds me of someone."

Ollie steps closer, staring at him like he's a complicated puzzle. "You lost her," he says finally, and Oliver can't stop the flinch. "Oh my God, you did. You lost her," Ollie steps back, crouching against the wall, sinking down to his knees. "No. No, no, no."

"I am so sorry," Oliver says, "I really am. But just cause it happened in my universe doesn't mean it will happen here too!"

"I am not leaving her side," Ollie cries. "You have no idea. She can't - I'll - I can't live without her."

Oliver remembers loving his own Laurel like this. He remembers being with her and making her smile. But even at twenty two, he had been too much of a coward to identify what he felt for her. This kid is far more of a man than he ever was.

"But you're wearing a wedding ring," Ollie asks around red rimmed eyes. "You're married. You -"

"To someone else," Oliver clarifies.

The kid lunges at him. Oliver could easily get out of the right hook, but he takes it anyway. It'll make the kid feel better.

"You moved on," Ollie says, his eyes full of betrayal. "You forgot her."

"I assure you, I didn't," Oliver says. "Listen, what happened between Laurel and me in my universe is too complicated to explain. What I know is this. On this earth, in your world, what you have isn't complicated. It's simple. It's your reality. Trust in that."

"But you're asking me to leave," Ollie states. "You want me to up and leave? Without a goodbye? You're asking me to break her heart while her father is sick!"

"It will protect this Earth," Oliver points out again. "This will save this Earth, and her. This is bigger than anything else."

The kid sits down on the floor in a daze, and reaches into his pocket to retrieve Moira Queen's princess cut diamond ring.

"Oh." Oliver says, stunned. He's seen that ring on Felicity's finger every morning. Seeing it in the velvet box is jarring. "You were going to propose."

"She's the love of my life," Ollie swears. "I was going to ask her, but we got interrupted when they brought Quentin to the hospital. After that, the time wasn't right."

"You got his permission?" Oliver asks, stunned.

"Yeah," Ollie answers. "Said he was rooting for us all along."

Oliver can't imagine Quentin Lance giving twenty two year old _him_ permission to do ANYTHING, let alone marry his little girl.

"You are a better man than I am," Oliver tells him. "So please believe me when I tell you this is important. You need to get on the Gambit."

"One week?"

"Yeah," Oliver answers.

"Funny," Ollie laughs. "Laurel says I look at the ground when I lie to her," he explains. "Like you have done every time I have asked you if its one week. What happens on that boat, man?"

Oliver should probably have been prepared for this question. 

"You think I am dumb?" Ollie continues. "You think I didn't notice that you got all jacked up like a wrestler? Or that you seem to have scars on your waist? Your shirt rode up when we were outside. I can tell. Something happened to you and you're trying to make sure it happens to me too. Am I wrong?"

Oliver swallows. "No."

They remain silent, Oliver lost in the magnitude of what he's asking this kid to do. 

"Will it really save her?" Ollie asks. "Don't you lie to me now, Queen."

"I know this planet is about to burn," Oliver answers truthfully. "I know that we have a better chance of surviving it if you get on the Gambit tonight."

Ollie stares at him long and hard. Then he gets to his feet.

"Stay with him," he jerks his head towards Quentin's room. "Stay until Laurel gets back."

"I will," Oliver promises him, shaking Ollie's hand.

The kid makes his way to Starling Harbor, and Oliver stays by the side of a dying man, trying not to cry into his hands.

*

He is numb after that.

It’s rinse, recycle, repeat. Go to new earth. Meet an Ollie who is a different shade on the spectrum from black to white. Send Ollie to Lian Yu.

Rinse.

Recycle.

Repeat.

Oliver has no pieces of himself that aren’t cracked, right down the middle.

*

He isn’t keeping count, but he is certain he’s amassed an army of at least a thousand Oliver Queens.

“Will this do?”

“We have no way to tell,” Monitor answers. “But with an army of Green Arrows? We have a fighting chance. Time to see your wife and daughter. The crisis will be here soon. Make it count.”

*

Felicity is thinner, has dark circles around her eyes and has her hair in a messy bun. 

She is the most _beautiful_ thing he's ever seen.

When he walks through the door, he goes straight for her, hugging her tightly and breathing her in.

He hasn't been able to remove the vision of her crushed under concrete from behind his eyelids. He hasn't been able to sleep without visions of his Felicity holding his hand as the light ebbs from her eyes.

"Oh Oliver," she says into his chest. "What happened to you?"

With Mia sleeping in his lap, he tells her everything. They sit in front of the fire, glasses of wine between them and Mia snoring into his thigh. He tells her about the Ollie Queen who'd gone to Central City to raise his son. He tells her about the Ollie who'd been on the verge of asking Laurel to marry him. He tells her about the mermaid backpack, and of the earnest kid who'd worked three jobs to get his little sister a present.

"I have said it for years. I have believed it for even longer," Felicity puts her hand on his face. "You were a hero _long_ before you put on that hood."

He wasn't though. He was also the jerk who used Sara Lance's feelings for him for a quick lay.

"She reminded me of Mia," he explains to her. "With her blonde hair, and those eyes, and she looked so young. I have never been more ashamed of myself."

"Oliver," she kisses him on the cheek. "Oh sweetheart."

"I tore the kid a new one," he continues. "Yelled everything I needed to hear at that age. Put him on the _Gambit_."

Felicity sobs into his chest as he talks, listening to the lives of every Oliver Queen irrevocably changed.

Of course, he can't get anything past her.

"What aren't you telling me?"

The story comes spilling out. Of the CEO and the head of IT Department, of that kid who was so nervous about asking this beautiful woman on a date.

"You made him stand her up?" she asks, eyes wide.

"There was no choice to make," he answers. "Felicity. I saw you die."

"I am right here," she promises. "Whatever is coming, whatever this Crisis is, I promise that we will get through it together. So will those two. Cause I can't imagine that Felicity staying away from her shipwrecked boss when he returns from the dead."

"For his sake, I hope so too."

"Honey," she kisses him again. "You just put a Green Arrow in every one of those universes. I won't say that's bad. Not when I have seen all the good you can do."

*

When the Crisis is upon them, there is a pivotal moment in the battle when an army of Green Arrows march on Earth 1, standing beside the other heroes. 

They play a part in saving billions of lives.

Oliver recognizes several of them. He spots Ollie from 786, the kid who had been so enamored with his newborn son. He spots CEO Oliver Queen, and right on cue, beside him is fierce Felicity. He recognizes them all. He shares their pain. He feels a kinship with all of them.

“Are you Oliver from Earth 1?” Felicity from 714 marches up to him in the aftermath, hands on her hips.

“Yeah,” he croaks out, exhausted from the battle. So he doesn’t see the right hook coming. “OW!” He rubs at his jaw. “What was that for?”

“Did you,” she says, pushing her glasses up her nose, “or did you not sneak into my apartment thirteen years ago and put me to bed?”

_Oh, right._

“I did,” he nods. “I am sorry.”

“It was you,” she stabs his chest with a finger. “You pulled him away at the restaurant. You sent him to Lian Yu.”

“I did.”

“You knew you were sending him to five years of hell, and you did it anyway!”

“I had to.”

“Was this why?” she gestures around them, at the devastation of the aftermath.

“Partly,” he answers, looking up at Oliver Queen from Earth 786 come up behind Felicity.

“Don’t believe him,” 786-Oliver says. “He lies. You told me it was a week’s trip.”

“I did,” Oliver nods. “I am sorry. How is William?”

“I missed his first steps,” 786-Oliver grits out. “I wasn’t here for his first day of school. Or for any of his firsts.”

“You are the Arrow now,” Oliver points out. “You survived the Crisis. You understand why I did what I did.”

“I do. I came by to say thank you.”

Oliver didn’t expect to get thanked. He never expects that.

“Nobody would blame you if you punched me in the face,” he points out, because _getting thanked_ is a novelty.

“A part of me wants to,” Ollie admits. “But my Felicity made me see that it can’t have been easy for you.”

“ _Your_ Felicity?” he asks, his voice shaking.

“Oh Oliver,” 714-Felicity steps closer, brushing a thumb on his jaw, rubbing at where she hit him, “didn’t you notice how many of the Green Arrows here came with a Felicity Smoak? There are differences between the universes, but some things are unchanging.”

He looks around, and he realizes what she means. A version of an Oliver, always beside a Felicity, who is fussing over him and tending to post-battle injuries. There are small differences, of course. He spots brunette versions of Felicity, and sees several Oliver(s) wearing Yao Fei’s old hood, but the love and affection between the couples is a constant.

By the DEO building, he sees several Sara(s) and Laurel(s) and even his own Mia from the future. 

“We survived this crisis because of you,” 714-Felicity tells him. “You made sure that a Green Arrow existed in several worlds. Look at all the lives you changed. That makes you a hero, I think.” She leans up on her tip-toes and kisses his cheek.

“It’s what I have been telling him for years,” his own Felicity slides up beside him, putting an arm around his waist. “And you know how much I love saying I told you so.”

“I do,” he nods, letting the tears fall. “I love you.”

“And I love you.”

~

_the End, they lived happily ever after, yada yada yada, because canon sucks_

**Author's Note:**

> This was published right after Crisis on Infinite Earths _Hour One_ aired.  
> But Oliver Queen does not die in Crisis because canon CAN BITE ME.
> 
> Please leave a review/comment if you liked this.  
> Come say hi on [tumblr.](https://baffledkingcomposinghallelujah.tumblr.com/)


End file.
